CHARTER SCHOOLS ARE NOT SUBJECT TO THE NOTICE OF CLAIM REQUIREMENTS IN THE EDUCATION LAW AND GENERAL MUNICIPAL LAW; PLAINTIFF-STUDENT, WHO HAD BEEN BULLIED AND WAS PUSHED TO THE FLOOR BY ANOTHER STUDENT, RAISED QUESTIONS OF FACT SUPPORTING THE NEGLIGENT SUPERVISION CAUSE OF ACTION (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Iannacci, determined (1) charter schools are not subject to the notice of claim requirements of the Education Law and the General Municipal Law, and (2) plaintiff student, who allegedly had been bullied and was pushed to the floor by another student when the hallway was unsupervised, raised questions of fact supporting the negligent supervision cause of action:

Since charter schools are independent from school districts with respect to civil liability, financial obligations, and liability insurance coverage, it stands to reason that the extraordinary safeguards of prelitigation notification of claims applicable to school districts, municipalities and other wholly public entities would not apply to charter schools. * * *

The evidence presented triable issues of fact as to whether there were monitors present in the hallway at the time of the incident as required by the School’s policies and procedures and whether the presence of such monitors could have prevented the alleged pushing incident … . A. P. v John W. Lavelle Preparatory Charter Sch., 2024 NY Slip Op 02205, Second Dept 4-24-24

Practice Point: Charter schools are not subject to the notice-of-claim requirement in the Education Law and General Municipal Law; i.e., a plaintiff suing a charter school for negligence need not file or serve a notice of claim as a condition precedent.